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Going Camping with Mobile Business Intelligence

The mobile
market is changing user expectations for consuming data, and those expectations
are out-pacing available desktop and laptop software. Matt Milella, Director of
Product Development for Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile Apps, joined me in
an Oracle AppCast to discuss this phenomenon.

Instant
access to critical business data on mobile devices is changing how and where
people are making business decisions. I see people all the time waiting for
planes, shopping for groceries, sitting in a cab or walking down the street
(dangerous, don’t do this) using their mobile devices. In terms of business,
what is going on here? It can’t all be email and YouTube! Matt told us, “Users
no longer distinguish between mobile and desktop, they want to start something
while they are riding on the train and pick up where they left off on the desktop at work. Apps like “Evernote” do a great job at this.
We need to move towards that and are [Oracle] thinking about this deeply…. For
example, a sales rep on the road might be working on a deal on their tablet in a
taxi or on a plane – and may want to complete the work on a desktop when they
arrive at their office or home. Executives on the road may start some analysis
on plane and perhaps make annotations – and when they arrive at the office want
to continue their train of thought.”

Oracle has released
two exciting mobile Business Intelligence (BI) products, one called “Oracle BI
Mobile App Designer” (launched recently), and “Oracle BI Mobile HD.” Matt provided some guidance as to the purpose
and use for each. “BI Mobile HD is our iPhone and iPad app that allows
customers to leverage their investment in BI. It allows users to consume existing BI content that was largely built
for the desktop. The BI Mobile App Designer allows business users (not IT) to
create mobile experiences, designed for devices. The apps are all responsive, which
means the features are all accessible, so regardless of your phone or tablet
size, the app will just work. The BI Mobile App Designer opens up the types of
purposeful apps that can be delivered to the end user in an organization. It goes beyond traditional Business
Intelligence; -- think dashboards focused on mobile with a specific flow. And these apps are developed in
minutes with zero code.” I found that amazing.

It was also
interesting to hear that mobile apps are not just the reincarnation of the
desktop application in miniature for mobile phones or tablets, but rather apps
designed with the purpose of the device in mind. Matt told us, “Let’s be
realistic, you would not write a novel on a phone, or take your tablet camping.
You could, but likely won’t. When building an app you really need to think
about the user and which device is truly their mobile device. You may have noticed that our HD app is now a
universal app (iPhone and iPad). We have
a new focus on the phone, and we think this form factor is just as important as
the tablet because they are typically always on and with the user. In fact I always have my phone, when I am out
for a bike ride, or even out camping. The office walls have been blown up.” Matt talked about mobile
functionality being dependent upon what the user would likely want to do with a
particular device, and then building the app to suit the device. For example,
receiving a status message on a watch, or being able to select from a short
list of options to perform on a phone.

Matt
further explained that one of the reasons that Oracle can keep up with the
mobile market is that they changed the way they approach the mobile world. “We
are an enterprise software company and we traditionally thought of release
cycles as being long. For mobile, we are
changing that cadence to one that is in line with the mobile market. Just this week I got an update for my BI
Mobile HD client on my phone, and we will continue to release both features and
patches at a much faster pace. In fact,
over the last 2 months we have released two Mobile HD updates with a major
leap in experience and functionality. We also just released Mobile App Designer,
and I really think it is going to be a game changer.”